Tag Archives: x-e2s

Fujifilm Singapore launched the X-Pro 2, X70 and X-E2S at a launch event at Suntec City last Friday (29 Jan 2015.) A giant sticker of a Fujifilm X-Pro 2 frames the entrance to the hall where the event was held—visitors walk through the lens mount to get in. Cute! A mini exhibition of photos made by the new X-cameras—the X-Pro 2, X70 and X-E2S greets the visitor as he walks into the hall.

Mini ExhibitionX70 Gallery

The event started off with Mr. Favian Loo, Marketing Manager of Fujifilm Singapore with a short speech of Fujifilm’s development over the past 5 years. The cameras were then launched and presented by a woman dressed as Cat Woman and another in traditional Japanese gear, both who paraded the camera to dozens of flashes popping and cameras clicking.

Models presenting the camera to the audienceCat Woman with Fujifilm X-Pro 2

Up next on stage is Mr. Makoto Oishi, Camera Product Planner of Fujifilm Japan, who presented on the advanced technologies found on the X-Pro 2 and X70. It’s rather interesting to know that the shutter/ISO speed dial of the X-Pro 2 consisted of 38 individual parts!

Mr. Makoto Oishi

Popular local street photographer, Mr. Chia Aik Beng, more popularly known as ABC, shared his experience with the X70 in Tokyo. The small and light X70 allowed him to discreetly take street photos, as well as freely roam the city without the burden of a DSLR system. In fact, he walked up and down the famous Shibuya crossing for 3 hours!

Street Photographer, Chia Aik Beng, on stage

Another X-Photographer, Mr. Ivan Joshua Loh. Ivan shared with the audience how he was skeptical of mirrorless systems in the beginning, but soon switched after he tried the X-Pro 1 for his commercial work. He has since used the X-T1, X-Pro 1 and now the X-Pro 2 for his work as they are, according to him, as good as a full-frame DSLR.

Commercial Photographer Ivan Joshua Loh

Fujifilm’s Ambassador, Ms Belinda Lim made an appearance at the event, sharing her experience with the X-cameras during her recent trip. She also added that the video quality from the X-Pro 2 is good enough to function as a backup vide camera in case the one used by her video crew fails.

Ivan and Belinda

Next, we were ushered to the next room where we can have a hands-on experience with the newly launched cameras (and a couple of the older ones as well.) I spent a short time with the X-Pro 2, and in my excitement, I did not take photos of it. Then again, you probably already knew how it looked like anyway. Here’s a shot of the interior, though.

Interior of the X-Pro 2

The first couple of things I did was to test out how much faster the improved AF is, and it is indeed a big improvement over the original X-Pro 1. In my unscientific tests of randomly pointing it at stuff and trying to acquire focus, it is at least as fast as my X-T1 with firmware 4.0. However, chatting with other users seem to reveal that the different units on the show floor seem to perform slightly differently in terms of AF speed. We were told they are still pre-production units, which might explain the anomaly.

Shutter and ISO dial

The EVF is also much improved over the 4-year old X-Pro 1. With a much higher refresh rate and resolution, it’s now a joy to use. It reminded me of the time I first tried the X-T1 and got totally impressed. Not being a rangefinder person, I don’t have much comments on the OVF, but the ability to automatically change the framelines according to the lens used might appeal to some.

One nice touch of the X-Pro 2 is the little joystick at the back of the body for AF point selection. This works far better than the (originally) mushy D-Pad found on the X-T1.

Visitors checking out the cameras

Moving on to the X70, it’s roughly the same size as the Ricoh GR, but with a nicer aesthetic design (to me anyway.) The tilt LCD screen is perfect for creative angles and shooting the selfie/wefies that are all the rage these days. The downsizing has meant that Fujifilm did not include an EVF on the camera, but there is an optional optical viewfinder which can be mounted to the hotshoe that you can buy. AF speeds unfortunately isn’t great, though not as slow as the original X100. I’d say it’s roughly similar to the X100S. Maybe the lighting conditions at the event weren’t ideal.

Fujifilm X70Fujifilm X70 tilt screen

Build quality wise, both felt solid in the hands.

I didn’t try the X-E2S as it’s not much of a change over the X-E2. In fact, the X-E2S and X-T1 were pretty much neglected at the test stations, with everybody clamouring over the X-Pro 2 and X70.

The X-Pro 2 is now available from your favourite dealers at S$2,799, the X70 at S$1,199.

Fujifilm announced the Fujifilm X-E2S today, a “S” upgrade to the X-E2 released in Oct 2013. Just like the “S”-series iPhones, the X-E2S adds some improvements to the X-E2, most notable of which is an improved hybrid AF system similar to the X-T10. It adds 77-point zone and wide/tracking modes along with the 49 points that’s already in the X-E2. AF speed is also slightly improved from the 0.08s on the older X-E2 to 0.06s on the X-E2S.

The X-E2S also adds an electronic shutter, allowing for shutter speeds of up to 1/32,000s. This lets you shoot in complete silence, though the rolling shutter effects might crop up under certain shooting conditions.

Unfortunately the sensor is still the older X-Trans II CMOS sensor with 16MP instead of the 24MP X-Trans III one found on the X-Pro 2.

The X-E2S will be available for US$699 (body alone) or US$999 with the excellent 18-55mm f/2.8-4 kit lens.